Synopses & Reviews
In this fascinating book, a Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist offers an up-to-date account of the workings of the brain and the connections between mind and body. Dr. Gerald Edelman explores the relation of consciousness to causation, evolution, the development of the self, and the origins of feelings, learning, and memory, basing his discussion on recent advances in science and medicine.
“[An] elegant . . . laudable, [and] accessible exploration of what’s happening in neuroscience, biochemistry, and other disciplines, and an insightful examination of the trait that defines humans above all other organisms.”—San Diego Union-Tribune
“Highly readable.”—Oliver Sacks, New York Review of Books
“Consciousness is a hot topic, but still a mystery. One of the leaders of the scientific approach to the study of consciousness, Gerald Edelman has written a book that is a good roadmap for the lay reader.”—Francis Crick, author of The Astonishing Hypothesis
“There are plenty of fascinating ideas to be had here. . . . [This] book might just [give you] a better feel for how, why, and where you feel what you feel. If you read books for insight, for discovery, then why not start by learning about the very matter that allows you to learn?”—Anthony Doerr, Boston Globe
“Edelman’s sophisticated framework . . . is elegantly summarized in Wider Than the Sky.”—Jean-Pierre Changeux, Nature
Review
“Consciousness is a hot topic, but still a mystery. One of the leaders of the scientific approach to the study of consciousness, Gerald Edelman has written a book that is a good roadmap for the lay reader.”—Francis Crick, author of
The Astonishing HypothesisReview
“[An] elegant . . . laudable, [and] accessible exploration of whats happening in neuroscience, biochemistry, and other disciplines, and an insightful examination of the trait that defines humans above all other organisms.”—
San Diego Union-TribuneReview
“Highly readable.”—Oliver Sacks,
New York Review of BooksSynopsis
In this fascinating book, a Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist offers an up-to-date account of the workings of the brain and the connections between mind and body. Dr. Gerald Edelman explores the relation of consciousness to causation, evolution, the development of the self, and the origins of feelings, learning, and memory, basing his discussion on recent advances in science and medicine.
An elegant . . . laudable, and accessible exploration of what's happening in neuroscience, biochemistry, and other disciplines, and an insightful examination of the trait that defines humans above all other organisms.--San Diego Union-Tribune
Highly readable.--Oliver Sacks, New York Review of Books
Consciousness is a hot topic, but still a mystery. One of the leaders of the scientific approach to the study of consciousness, Gerald Edelman has written a book that is a good roadmap for the lay reader.--Francis Crick, author of The Astonishing Hypothesis
There are plenty of fascinating ideas to be had here. . . . This book might just give you a better feel for how, why, and where you feel what you feel. If you read books for insight, for discovery, then why not start by learning about the very matter that allows you to learn?--Anthony Doerr, Boston Globe
Edelman's sophisticated framework . . . is elegantly summarized in Wider Than the Sky.--Jean-Pierre Changeux, Nature
Synopsis
How does the firing of neurons give rise to subjective sensations, thoughts, and emotions? How can the disparate domains of mind and body be reconciled? The quest for a scientifically based understanding of consciousness has attracted study and speculation across the ages. In this direct and non-technical discussion of consciousness, Dr. Gerald M. Edelman draws on a lifetime of scientific inquiry into the workings of the brain to formulate answers to the mind-body questions that intrigue every thinking person.
Concise and understandable, the book explains pertinent findings of modern neuroscience and describes how consciousness arises in complex brains. Edelman explores the relation of consciousness to causation, to evolution, to the development of the self, and to the origins of feelings, learning, and memory. His analysis of the brain activities underlying consciousness is based on recent remarkable advances in biochemistry, immunology, medical imaging, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology, yet the implications of his book extend fartherbeyond the worlds of science and medicine into virtually every area of human inquiry.
About the Author
Gerald M. Edelman, M.D., is director of the Neurosciences Institute and president of Neurosciences Research Foundation. He is also professor and chair of the Department of the Neurobiology at the Scripps Research Institute. For his studies on the structure and diversity of antibodies he received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.